SUNDAY NIGHT 

    Burr… Ugh. Why is this zombie at my door? I just woke up and found a zombie groaning and slobbering all over itself outside the door. I just wanted to go back to sleep. Slap!  There was now a slime at the door. Hiss!  Now a spider?! Why is every monster in existence at the door? Are they trying to start a concert? It took me a while, but I fell back asleep.

                                         MONDAY                                            

    I woke up, got out of bed, got dressed, and went upstairs for breakfast. I was excited, because this was the first day of school!

“Morning Mom!” I said. “Good Morning, Zuri.” said Mom. I ran to the table to see what I would have for breakfast.

    “Ooo… SSSSSSLLLLLLLUUUUUURRRRRRPPPPPPPP!!!!!” Yup, it was beetroot soup.

“Zuri!”

“Sorry Mom.”

“It’s alright.” She said, “But you should get ready for school. I hear they are adding another subject.”

   “Yay!” I exclaimed. I like to do work, because it reminds me that if I work hard, I learn more stuff. “I hope it’s combat. It will help a lot with getting more people for the substitute army.” You remember the mobs outside the door last night? Are you wondering how they got there? Well… that’s CLASSIFIED.

“Anyway, gotta go Mom!” I said. I grabbed my lunch emeralds, my pickaxe, my notebook, my diary, and ran out the door. While

I was running, I bumped into my best friend, Sunny. “Hi Sunny.” I said. 

“Hey Zuri.” Sunny said “Did you hear the news?” 

“Yeah, there is a new subject. What do you think it will be?”

“Combat.”

“Me too!”

“Heh, I guess two minds think alike.”

   I laughed. “I guess so…” I gave him a high five and went to the dorm of my school. And no, my school is not a high school. It’s just a really good middle school where tons of people find out what they want to do in childhood.

   I went to the dorm because I wanted to talk with my friends Steve and Alex.

“Heeeyy Steve!”

“Sup Zuri?”

“School, and talking with you two.”

    We all laughed. “Anyways, what do you think is the new subject?” I asked.

   “Combat.” Steve and Alex said in unison. They looked at each other, then broke out laughing. “Bro, everyone says combat. And it looks like it went to the peak.” I laughed. “Anyways, see you in class.” As soon as I had said that, the bell rang, and the speakers crackled to life. “Students, first class is farming.” And it was gone. I looked at Steve and Alex, and left to go to the farming room.

                                              * * *

   When I got to the classroom, I saw that Kai was the first one there. “Hi Kai.”

“Hi.”

    The teacher had yet to come, so I went to the seat labeled Zuri. I looked at the door just as Sunny, Steve, Alex, and Noor came through the door. After they came through, the teacher followed them. 

    I think farming is an OK rating, but I like the other subjects more. “Hello class, my name is Mr. Magma. But you can call me Magma. Today we are…”

                                             * * *

   “And that’s it for today. Thank you for being good students.” finished Magma. “I will see you tomorrow.”

    The bell rang, and we filed out of the room. I learned a little stuff, like it is really rare for a moldy potato to be harvested. Anyways, we are going to the next subject, brewing, which I know a little bit about. So I hope I learn something I haven't known about.

    I ran into Makena while walking over there, in fact, she will be in the same class! Which is cool. “Hi Makena, are you ready for brewing?” I asked. She pulled out fifteen bottles of water! “The teacher came to my house yesterday to tell me to bring these. As you know, my family line has been brewing a ton. All for the Sacred Potion.” The Sacred Potion is a rainbow-colored potion which when you drink it, you can turn into any mob you like! But are you wondering how to get it back? Well, you just drink a Potion of Void. A dark blueish potion, where it sucks out the potion effects, and puts it back into the bottle.

   “Anyways, gotta go to class.” I said as I ran off to class. Makena waved at me as a saying of “See you later.” As I got into class, I saw the teacher getting ready. “Tigress35?” I sputtered. “Hi Zuri. I’ve heard that you are a good student.” said Tigress35. I was shocked. Yeah, Tigerese is really good at brewing, but to be a

teacher? She must be REALLY good to be one.

   I went to my seat. Still shell-shocked, and started to gather my materials. As I was pulling out my nether wart, Makena, Steve, Sunny (Yay!), and Ari. I thought This is going to be a good class. Not just because all of my friends are here, but also because Tigress35 is going to be teaching us! What luck! 

    They all went to their assigned seats, and took out their brewing supplies. Tigress35 has just finished setting up the brewing stand on top of the table. I was really excited for this class. 

    Tigress35 started, “Hello, my name is Tigress35. And I will be your brewing teacher for this year. Ok, please take out your…”

                                             * * *

    “And you put the magma cream in, and… there you go! A potion of fire resistance is ready to go. Thanks class, and I will

see you tomorrow.”

   We said goodbye, packed up our potion stuff, and left to go to the other class. Which, as you might know, is not the new one, but it is the building class.

    We, (Me, Steve, and Sunny) ran through the hallways. “So, what do you think is the teacher for building?” I asked. “Probably Green Steve,” said Steve. “Or PixelLaxer.” said Sunny. I agreed, because Green Steve and PixelLaxer are really good builders.

   Our answer was soon answered when we came into the room, and saw a person with a green T-shirt, green hair, and… uh… basically green everything walking around the room putting stuff in chests. His name is Green Steve. I guess he is the best teacher for the job.

“H-hi Green Steve…”  

“Hey kid. The principal called me, and asked me if I would like to

be the teacher for building. As you know, I accepted, because why would I not be the teacher for building?  Your name is Zuri, am I right?” “Ye-yeah…” I sputtered “Are we going to do a build off or what?”

   Green Steve laughed, “And you two must be Sunny and Steve. I heard a lot from you, Sunny, you are a great farmer, right?” Sunny had wide eyes, but said, “Yeah, did you see me farming or something?” 

   Green Steve smiled, turned and said, “And Steve, are you the one who is really good at combat?” Steve smiled as well, “Yes I am.”

    Green Steve turned back to me, “And back to you, Zuri. To my guess, you are really bad at brewing.” I gasped, “How did you know that?!”

    Green Steve grinned, “I can see it in your eyes. Anyways, my

guess is you are really good at mining.”

    Anyways, we talked for a little bit, until the rest of the class came in, then we went to our assigned seats. Then we started class.

                                             * * *

    After class, we left the room. I stayed for a little bit, so I could get some advice from Green Steve, because during class, he said there will be a building competition on Thursday. 

    “I'll say that you should plan out with Sunny and Steve, (Yep, we got teams,) what you are deciding to build.”

“Ok. Thanks!”

“No problem Zuri. Buzz… Buzz… Buzz. Oh. Blue Steve is calling. See you later Zuri.”

    “Bye!” Then he disappeared in a green mist. . “Heh. I have no idea how he does that.” I said to myself. I ran through the door,

and into the hallway. The speakers said that redstone engineering is next. And I am wondering who the teacher is going to be for the subject.

        BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!  Oh No! The alarms just went off. The lights turned red, and 10 people came running down the hall. My breath went away when I saw the person leading the way. His name is Captain Mustang (MasterMustang. He is the captain of the city army,) “H-h-h-hi Captain Mustang. What’s happening?” Captain Mustang answered, “There seems to be an explosion in the city walls. I’ve been told that 5 creepers blew up at it. At least the wall held up against it. Herobrine is up to something.” I was super scared, because Herobrine is pure evil. Attempting to take over the entire world and turn it into a flat world where the only residents are slimes. Ugh, the thought just disgusts me.

    “Come on men. Let us go!” General Mustang shouted, “Yes sir!” Said the men. “Let us go then. See you later Zuri.” He now ran through the hall again. 

     I ran through the hallway, past the crafting teacher, past the lockers, and into the redstone subject classroom. The teacher was covered in redstone dust, and putting redstone stuff in chests.

    My eyes were still wide while the others were running in the room. They all were also wide eyed.

    “Wh-why were the lights red?” Kai asked.

    “Mobs are at the wall.” I said quietly.

    “Wait, who is that?” Sunny asked.

    I turned around to see the teacher still having his back on us. He had a cyan shirt, black legs with blue streaks? Black and brown hair, and tan skin with medal parts attached to his skin on

his head and left arm. 

    Makena gasped, “It’s the principle! It’s PixelLaxer!” We all gasped, PixelLaxer turned around, and we saw half of his face was covered in medal. He had a robotic eye, with the iris light blue, and the sclera is orange. He had a blue energy core in the middle of his chest with wires connected to it, and flowing through all of his body. 

     “Hey guys. How’s it going? I heard the alarms, and saw Mustang running across the hall. Anyways, you all here? I will call your names to see if you are.”

     “Zuri.”

     “Here!”

     “Makena…”

                                             * * *

     “And Sunny.”

      “Here!”

    “Alright. Now that I know that everyone is here, I will start class. The first thing we will talk about is…”

                                             * * *

     “… and you add the sticky piston right there, and now you just made a perfect 1x2 piston door.” finished PixelLaxer. When we finished, I heard the sound of pistons moving, and saw Kai open her door. She did perfectly with the redstone, and the ba-ding of the noteblock when the door finished opening. “Good job Kai. You seem like a good redstone engineer. Well… not as good as a robot, but you are pretty good.” said PixelLaxer

    “Thank you! That means a lot to me.” said Kai. Her eyes had a twinkle in it as she said this. He smiled “No problem Kai. You also look like you will be a good crafter as well.”

    She smiled as well. I looked away as PixelLaxer said that class

is dismissed, ran out the door, and ran through the hall to the cafeteria. 

    When I got to the cafeteria, I smelled the scent of pork chops, carrots, and pumpkin pie. My mouth watered when I saw the food on the counter. 

     I ran over to the counter and dished myself up with two slices of pork chops, a spoonful of carrots, and a piece of pumpkin pie. I went to my seat just as the rest of the people in school came in! I realized that there were more students than I thought. There was Noor, Sunny, Steve, Alex, Makena, Kai, Efe, and Ari. All the students that I know of.

     There are other students named Jimmy, Timmy (what…), Emma, Stevebrine (and yes, his eyes are white on the right, and blue on the left), Hagrid, Jake, John, and Karen.

    My friends got their lunch and came over to sit with me. “I am going to work on my potion making at the SH (Study Hall) if anyone wants to join me,” said Sunny. “I’ll be at the SH as well to work on building,” said Steve and Alex in union. They looked at each other and laughed like they did in the dorm. “I’ll be at the yard practicing my redstone stuff,” said Makena. “Cool. I think I’m gonna join you Makena.” I said

    On the corner of my eye I saw Stevebrine by himself on a table eating some food. He looked lonely, so I told my friends not to follow me, and walked over towards Stevebrine.

    “Hey” I said. Stevebrine looked up, looked at me. He said, “H3Ll0.” His voice was distorted, kinda like my dad with a sore throat. He cleared his throat and said “Sheesh. Sorry about that. My voice always goes like that. Here, I will just lose control so that you will understand. S0 i tH1nK tHat YOu D0n’T LiK3 tH1S?

So there. That is what happens when I lose control.”

     I was shocked. I never knew that he was able to do this. “Ok… so, do you have some of the powers of Herobrine, but can control it like Steve?” He smiled, “That is kinda what it’s like to be me.”

     I was talking to him for a little longer, then I left him and went to my friends. “What were you doing over there with Stevebrine?! You know he is…well…like Herobrine,” said Sunny. His voice quivering. I smiled “You know, he is more different than you think. He seems like a kind person. He just has a problem with his voice when he is not in control of it.” I walked away towards the school practicing yard.

     While I was heading there, I bumped into Hagrid. He was a tall kid, with brown hair, dark pale skin, and light blue eyes. He was wearing a blue shirt with a pickaxe in the middle of it.

      Oh, looks like we have another mining lover here. I thought to myself. “Hey Hagrid, how is it going?” I asked. “It is going well. Are you ready for the mining test on Wednesday?” 

     I had been thinking about that test. “Yeah, I have some plans for it. So you better be ready.” He smiled, “Oh I will alright”

     After that I left him and continued my way to the SH yard. I saw that Makena was already there, working on a machine with comparators. I never knew how to use those things.

             Monday, Continued…

      “I just have to put these redstone dusts, put on that button… and I’m done!” I said. I just finished making my very own 2x2x2 redstone door. “Nice door Zuri! I just finished my obstacle course.” said Makena. I looked over at her build. “Ooo… looks

good Makena. How do you play?” I asked. “You have to put an emerald in this barrel, and then you run across the course.” I did as she said, the red light turned on, then the yellow one, then the green! I ran onto the first block as fast as I could.

    I kept doing this until I got to a part where there are 2x3 platforms, with snowballs shooting out of dispensers. I got to the halfway point, but got hit by a snowball in the face. I lost my balance, and I fell off into the water.

    I swam to the ladder out just as Makena started. She got through the one block ones, then got to the snowball part. She weaved and dodged out of the paths of the snowballs.

    She got to a part where pistons could push you off the edge, but like the snowballs, she stepped out of the way of the pistons pathway. She finally got to the final part where you have to jump out of the way of pistons making holes on the platform.

    Makena did one final jump, aaaaannnnnnddddddd… she made it!!! “Wow!!” I yelled. “That was amazing Makena!” She bowed and said, “Thank you, Zuri. That was my fourth try, also this might be what I would use for the redstone contest.”

     I was not surprised when she said this. It is a really good course with redstone. I waved goodbye to Makena, then ran to go find Sunny.

                                               * * *

     I found him at the water fountain sitting on the edge. He was holding two ice creams, one flavor was amethyst crunch, and the other, was the diamond and gold twist. I love that kind.

     I walked up to him, sat down beside him, then he gave me the diamond and gold twist. We talked about what we did

today. 

     “And she did a leap, and landed on the other side!” I said. “Wow! She must have practiced a lot to get that good!” Sunny was halfway through his amethyst crunch ice cream. I nodded, and took a lick of mine. When I tasted it, I immediately groaned the groan you have when you taste something really good.

     “You like it?” asked Sunny. “Ohhh yeah! Thank you for getting it for me!” I said. “No problem, Zuri. You are my best friend after all.” I smiled, he was a good friend I chose when we were younger. Let me tell that story.

                       Flashback

     I was sitting by myself at the wall. I could see the builders working on the gate. It had this weird redstone thingy. I bit out

of my ice cream, its flavor was glowstone swirl. I was reading my favorite book called Diary of a Warrior Villager. It was about this one story of a kid named Alan Leatherback. He wanted to be a warrior like a player he saw when he saved his village.

     It is fake anyways. What are players? Are they like a version of humans? Anyways, I finished my ice cream, and was about to go home when a piece of the wall exploded! Zombies and skeletons came pouring through, and there was an enderman in the background with a general's hat. 

     Three zombies surrounded me. I was very scared! I only had a small wooden sword I used when I played with my dad. I hit a zombie with it, but it laughed and broke it! I started to cry, but another kid ran over and was beating the zombies with a stone sword. He killed them, and absorbed all of the XP.

     He helped me up. “Th-thank you! I would’ve been a goner!” I

said. “It’s alright, I got you. My name is Sunny, by the way.” Sunny said. “Z-Zuri.” He threw out a crafting table from his hotbar. He made a stone sword and a wooden one. He gave them both to me. “Here’s a wooden sword for you to use, and a stone one to protect yourself with.” Sunny was being very kind to do that to me. “Hey, do you want to come to my house for dinner?” I asked him. “My mom is a very good cook.” Sunny smiled, “Sure.” 

     While we were walking, the city army ran by. I had a glimpse of the general. He had a blue shirt, gray pants, green eyes, and brown hair. “That is General Mustang. His full name is MasterMustang.” 

     I made eye contact with General Mustang. He winked at me, then looked back at the mobs. “Alright troops! I need you all to split up into 5 groups and surround the mobs. We need to push

them to where PixelLaxer is. He says he’s got a TNT Cannon waiting for them.”

     I looked at Sunny. He looked at me. We smiled, because we can tell what both of us are thinking. “Let's do it,” I said. 

     We sat down on a bench and watched them all surround the mobs and pushed them towards the redstone garage. The general walked over to us, sat down and said, “PixelLaxer is a good friend of mine, you know. He is the redstone engineer of the army. Let me tell you why he has all these medal parts on his skin. He fell into lava once, because of powdered snow. Herobrine brought him out of the lava, but he was halfway burnt.

     PixelLaxer had no idea who he was, because his eye was burnt. Herobrine took him back to his castle, and tried to keep him alive. But he was too damaged. He doesn’t have a health

bar. That is why he was burning.

     He finally got him to stay alive. He asked his best scientists to work on him. The scientists made the parts he has on now, but in the past, it was red, not cyan, red. He was a captain of Herobrine’s army.

     He has weapons in his machine parts. He has an electric cannon, a power sword, and his eye has a laser in it. Thankfully, our hackers changed his AI Chip’s code, so he now is on our side.”

     Sunny and I looked at each other. “Wow. I never knew PixelLaxer had such a story!” said Sunny. We heard explosions in the background. “Welp, that’s my que! See you two later.” General Mustang then ran off.

     Sunny and I finally got to my home. I smelled pumpkin pie inside. Before we went in, Sunny asked something. “So, Zuri. I

was thinking.” I was confused. “Yeah? What’s up?” “Do you want to be friends?” Sunny asked. I smiled, “Of course Sunny! Why wouldn’t I accept? You saved me from those zombies!” I was very happy. I gave him a fist bump, then opened the door. After a while, we became more than just friends. We became Best Friends For Life!

                   Monday Part 3

     Ow. My fingers are hurting from writing all of that. I think I’m going to take a break today. See you tomorrow!

                        Tuesday 

     I woke up from a good night’s sleep. We were told what the new subject was, and we were right! It is combat! We didn’t do the class today, because the teacher was busy.

     Sunny and I talked about the building competition after school. He says he’ll be available around evening. Anyways, I had breakfast then got my school items. I was told we were going to be doing a mining preparations class for the contest on Friday. I was very excited about it.

     I am heading my way to the dorms while I’m writing. I am thinking of telling my friends there about the mining contest. I think they already know about it. They have a subject calendar in the dorms.

     I walked through the door and I found Steve talking to Stevebrine! I never thought they would get along so quickly! I saw Alex talking with Kai near the calendar. “Hi Steve! How are

you going with Stevebrine?” I called over to Steve. He waved goodbye to Stevebrine, then walked over to me. 

     “Oh, we’re doing good. I just realized that he has this one power to see in the dark! I never heard that non-felines could do that!” said Steve. I was surprised. I thought he had only the corrupted voice. “Wow! That is cool! Did you hear about the mining preparations class? I think it would be really fun,” I said. “That would be fun. I hear that there would be teams of four! I think that our team members should be Sunny, someone else, you, and me. Alex is thinking of Kai, Noor, and Ari on her team.” Steve explained. “Cool, I hope we win the competition.”

     The speakers crackled, “All students, head towards the principal's office. Be there in 5 minutes.” Then it was gone, and so were we! We ran as fast as we could towards PixelLaxer’s office.

     I saw Stevebrine zoom past us, and I mean ZOOM! He just came by lightning fast. “WOAH!! How is he going so fast?!” I asked. “Oh, that’s one of his powers. He can see in the dark, has super speed, and has super strength,” said Steve. I was now really surprised. Not only that Stevebrine can see in the dark and speak differently, he has all kinds of powers inside him!

     Before I knew it, we were at PixelLaxer’s office. I saw Stevebrine, Ari, and PixelLaxer at the door.

     After a few minutes, everyone came running over at the door. I now just realized how serious PixelLaxer’s face was. “All students, because of all the mob attacks at the wall, we are going to cancel school for a few days, because there is something going on, and I have to work on a project to help that problem. The mayor is going to make an announcement later at noon. I expect to see you there. You are dismissed.”

     PixelLaxer went back into his office. There was an exit nearby, so we went out from there.

     “Wow, I never knew PixelLaxer would be that serious!”

     “Yeah, I am very sad now, because I was really excited for that mining class.”

     “I’m going to go to the city square, because it is almost noon.”

     “Yo Zuri, do you want to head over towards the ice cream stand to get some ice cream to lighten the mood? I’ll pay for it.”

     “Sure,” I said. I was thinking about ice cream right now, so that could be a good idea. “I will go as well,” said Stevebrine. “Oh, ok,” Sunny said uncomfortably. “I can come!” said Steve. “I really like ice cream!” I laughed, “Who doesn’t?”

     So we set off towards the ice cream stand, and while we were walking, we came across the mayor. “Hey boys. If you don’t know me yet, my name is Mayor Flame. As you might have heard, I

will be making an announcement soon, so please be there for that,” said Mayor Flame. We nodded, “Yes sir, mayor sir!” said Steve. The mayor laughed, “Ok then, see you there.”

     We got to the shop. I ordered a diamond and gold twist, Sunny ordered an amethyst crunch, Steve ordered a glowstone swirl, and Stevebrine ordered a magma patch. The total was 5 emeralds, and Sunny put the green gems into the shopkeeper's hands.

     We sat down at the fountain benches, ate ice cream, and told tales.

     “...and we went home for an awesome lunch,” Steve finished. His tale was about how he learned how to be a warrior. “Cool Steve. That must have been hard when you killed all those zombies,” said Sunny. Sunny was only good at combat when he was young, now he got a bit rusty, and became a farmer.

     I was about to tell my story, but a huge crowd of people came running by the fountain. I just realized what is going on. 

     “They’re going over towards the city square!” I exclaimed. “The announcement is about to start!” So we joined the crowd, and ran all the way to the city square.

     There was a whole stage there with a pedestal on it. Mayor Flame walked onto the stage. He was about to make his speech, I just knew it. “He’s about to start. Oooo, I’m so excited for what he’s going to say!” Steve said excitedly. “Me too!” Sunny joined him.

     I was about to say something, but the mayor started talking.

     “Good afternoon everyone. As you all know, the mobs are banging on our wall hard. It has been a pain in the back with our city army. Captain Mustang would like to talk about it. Mustang, can you please come upstage please?”

     Captain MasterMustang came up, “Thank you, mayor. Yes, the mobs have been really tiring to run around all the time to just give orders. That is why we have this announcement. PixelLaxer has been working on this one project called ‘Separate Communication.’ It’s this one redstone earpiece. You put it into your ear, turn it on, and you can talk to anyone you like! There is a whole lot more, so PixelLaxer, can you come up to say more please?”

    PixelLaxer nodded, he walked up the stairs, and started, “I have been working on Project ‘Separate Communication’ for a few years now. I think it will help a lot with the mob attacks at the wall, because the guards don’t have to go all the way to the Captain’s base to tell him about an attack before it is too late. Now they can just tell him over my device. I hope this will also help with friends when they are apart from each other when